How to retrieve a file from a server via SFTP?

Question

I'm trying to retrieve a file from a server using SFTP (as opposed to FTPS) using Java. How can I do this?

Answer 1

Andy, to delete file on remote system you need to use (channelExec) of JSch and pass unix/linux commands to delete it.

Answer 2

You also have JFileUpload with SFTP add-on (Java too): http://www.jfileupload.com/products/sftp/index.html

Answer 3

Below is an example using Apache Common VFS:

FileSystemOptions fsOptions = new FileSystemOptions();
SftpFileSystemConfigBuilder.getInstance().setStrictHostKeyChecking(fsOptions, "no");
FileSystemManager fsManager = VFS.getManager();
String uri = "sftp://user:password@host:port/absolute-path";
FileObject fo = fsManager.resolveFile(uri, fsOptions);

Answer 4

The best solution I've found is Paramiko. There's a Java version.

Answer 5

Apache Commons SFTP library

Common java properties file for all the examples

serverAddress=111.222.333.444

userId=myUserId

password=myPassword

remoteDirectory=products/

localDirectory=import/

Upload file to remote server using SFTP

import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.util.Properties;

import org.apache.commons.vfs2.FileObject;
import org.apache.commons.vfs2.FileSystemOptions;
import org.apache.commons.vfs2.Selectors;
import org.apache.commons.vfs2.impl.StandardFileSystemManager;
import org.apache.commons.vfs2.provider.sftp.SftpFileSystemConfigBuilder;

public class SendMyFiles {

 static Properties props;

 public static void main(String[] args) {

  SendMyFiles sendMyFiles = new SendMyFiles();
  if (args.length < 1)
  {
   System.err.println("Usage: java " + sendMyFiles.getClass().getName()+
     " Properties_file File_To_FTP ");
   System.exit(1);
  }

  String propertiesFile = args[0].trim();
  String fileToFTP = args[1].trim();
  sendMyFiles.startFTP(propertiesFile, fileToFTP);

 }

 public boolean startFTP(String propertiesFilename, String fileToFTP){

  props = new Properties();
  StandardFileSystemManager manager = new StandardFileSystemManager();

  try {

   props.load(new FileInputStream("properties/" + propertiesFilename));
   String serverAddress = props.getProperty("serverAddress").trim();
   String userId = props.getProperty("userId").trim();
   String password = props.getProperty("password").trim();
   String remoteDirectory = props.getProperty("remoteDirectory").trim();
   String localDirectory = props.getProperty("localDirectory").trim();

   //check if the file exists
   String filepath = localDirectory +  fileToFTP;
   File file = new File(filepath);
   if (!file.exists())
    throw new RuntimeException("Error. Local file not found");

   //Initializes the file manager
   manager.init();

   //Setup our SFTP configuration
   FileSystemOptions opts = new FileSystemOptions();
   SftpFileSystemConfigBuilder.getInstance().setStrictHostKeyChecking(
     opts, "no");
   SftpFileSystemConfigBuilder.getInstance().setUserDirIsRoot(opts, true);
   SftpFileSystemConfigBuilder.getInstance().setTimeout(opts, 10000);

   //Create the SFTP URI using the host name, userid, password,  remote path and file name
   String sftpUri = "sftp://" + userId + ":" + password +  "@" + serverAddress + "/" + 
     remoteDirectory + fileToFTP;

   // Create local file object
   FileObject localFile = manager.resolveFile(file.getAbsolutePath());

   // Create remote file object
   FileObject remoteFile = manager.resolveFile(sftpUri, opts);

   // Copy local file to sftp server
   remoteFile.copyFrom(localFile, Selectors.SELECT_SELF);
   System.out.println("File upload successful");

  }
  catch (Exception ex) {
   ex.printStackTrace();
   return false;
  }
  finally {
   manager.close();
  }

  return true;
 }


}

Download file from remote server using SFTP

import java.io.File;
import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.util.Properties;

import org.apache.commons.vfs2.FileObject;
import org.apache.commons.vfs2.FileSystemOptions;
import org.apache.commons.vfs2.Selectors;
import org.apache.commons.vfs2.impl.StandardFileSystemManager;
import org.apache.commons.vfs2.provider.sftp.SftpFileSystemConfigBuilder;

public class GetMyFiles {

 static Properties props;

 public static void main(String[] args) {

  GetMyFiles getMyFiles = new GetMyFiles();
  if (args.length < 1)
  {
   System.err.println("Usage: java " + getMyFiles.getClass().getName()+
   " Properties_filename File_To_Download ");
   System.exit(1);
  }

  String propertiesFilename = args[0].trim();
  String fileToDownload = args[1].trim();
  getMyFiles.startFTP(propertiesFilename, fileToDownload);

 }

 public boolean startFTP(String propertiesFilename, String fileToDownload){

  props = new Properties();
  StandardFileSystemManager manager = new StandardFileSystemManager();

  try {

   props.load(new FileInputStream("properties/" + propertiesFilename));
   String serverAddress = props.getProperty("serverAddress").trim();
   String userId = props.getProperty("userId").trim();
   String password = props.getProperty("password").trim();
   String remoteDirectory = props.getProperty("remoteDirectory").trim();
   String localDirectory = props.getProperty("localDirectory").trim();


   //Initializes the file manager
   manager.init();

   //Setup our SFTP configuration
   FileSystemOptions opts = new FileSystemOptions();
   SftpFileSystemConfigBuilder.getInstance().setStrictHostKeyChecking(
     opts, "no");
   SftpFileSystemConfigBuilder.getInstance().setUserDirIsRoot(opts, true);
   SftpFileSystemConfigBuilder.getInstance().setTimeout(opts, 10000);

   //Create the SFTP URI using the host name, userid, password,  remote path and file name
   String sftpUri = "sftp://" + userId + ":" + password +  "@" + serverAddress + "/" + 
     remoteDirectory + fileToDownload;

   // Create local file object
   String filepath = localDirectory +  fileToDownload;
   File file = new File(filepath);
   FileObject localFile = manager.resolveFile(file.getAbsolutePath());

   // Create remote file object
   FileObject remoteFile = manager.resolveFile(sftpUri, opts);

   // Copy local file to sftp server
   localFile.copyFrom(remoteFile, Selectors.SELECT_SELF);
   System.out.println("File download successful");

  }
  catch (Exception ex) {
   ex.printStackTrace();
   return false;
  }
  finally {
   manager.close();
  }

  return true;
 }

}

Delete a file on remote server using SFTP

import java.io.FileInputStream;
import java.util.Properties;

import org.apache.commons.vfs2.FileObject;
import org.apache.commons.vfs2.FileSystemOptions;
import org.apache.commons.vfs2.impl.StandardFileSystemManager;
import org.apache.commons.vfs2.provider.sftp.SftpFileSystemConfigBuilder;

public class DeleteRemoteFile {

 static Properties props;

 public static void main(String[] args) {

  DeleteRemoteFile getMyFiles = new DeleteRemoteFile();
  if (args.length < 1)
  {
   System.err.println("Usage: java " + getMyFiles.getClass().getName()+
   " Properties_filename File_To_Delete ");
   System.exit(1);
  }

  String propertiesFilename = args[0].trim();
  String fileToDownload = args[1].trim();
  getMyFiles.startFTP(propertiesFilename, fileToDownload);

 }

 public boolean startFTP(String propertiesFilename, String fileToDownload){

  props = new Properties();
  StandardFileSystemManager manager = new StandardFileSystemManager();

  try {

   props.load(new FileInputStream("properties/" + propertiesFilename));
   String serverAddress = props.getProperty("serverAddress").trim();
   String userId = props.getProperty("userId").trim();
   String password = props.getProperty("password").trim();
   String remoteDirectory = props.getProperty("remoteDirectory").trim();


   //Initializes the file manager
   manager.init();

   //Setup our SFTP configuration
   FileSystemOptions opts = new FileSystemOptions();
   SftpFileSystemConfigBuilder.getInstance().setStrictHostKeyChecking(
     opts, "no");
   SftpFileSystemConfigBuilder.getInstance().setUserDirIsRoot(opts, true);
   SftpFileSystemConfigBuilder.getInstance().setTimeout(opts, 10000);

   //Create the SFTP URI using the host name, userid, password,  remote path and file name
   String sftpUri = "sftp://" + userId + ":" + password +  "@" + serverAddress + "/" + 
     remoteDirectory + fileToDownload;

   //Create remote file object
   FileObject remoteFile = manager.resolveFile(sftpUri, opts);

   //Check if the file exists
   if(remoteFile.exists()){
    remoteFile.delete();
    System.out.println("File delete successful");
   }

  }
  catch (Exception ex) {
   ex.printStackTrace();
   return false;
  }
  finally {
   manager.close();
  }

  return true;
 }

}

Answer 6

There is a nice comparison of the 3 mature Java libraries for SFTP: Commons VFS, SSHJ and JSch

To sum up SSHJ has the clearest API and it's the best out of them if you don't need other storages support provided by Commons VFS.

Here is edited SSHJ example from github:

final SSHClient ssh = new SSHClient();
ssh.loadKnownHosts(); // or, to skip host verification: ssh.addHostKeyVerifier(new PromiscuousVerifier())
ssh.connect("localhost");
try {
    ssh.authPassword("user", "password"); // or ssh.authPublickey(System.getProperty("user.name"))
    final SFTPClient sftp = ssh.newSFTPClient();
    try {
        sftp.get("test_file", "/tmp/test.tmp");
    } finally {
        sftp.close();
    }
} finally {
    ssh.disconnect();
}